The first time I heard about pupusas was one day when I was walking down the frozen aisle of Whole Foods, looking for frozen meals to have in case of emergency. I had never heard of them but they sounded good. I was not disappointed but now that I have tasted homemade ones, I cannot compare. Pupusas, stuffed and griddled cakes made with masa harina, are Salvadoran street food. I have yet to try pupusas made by an actual Salvadoran but in my unbiased opinion I think these came out really good and will definitely make them again soon! I found the recipe to be simple and pretty straightforward.

Yields about 10 pupusas

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon salt

9 ounces masa harina (about 2 cups)

1 ½ cups water

12 ounces mozzarella, grated

Directions:

In a large bowl, mix the salt into the masa harina. Using your hands, knead the water into the masa harina in a few additions. The dough should feel like stiff mashed potatoes. Lay a large piece of parchment paper on a smooth work surface.

Roll a 2-ounce ball of dough (about the size of a golf ball) in your hands and pat it down in your hand to form a disc slightly larger than your palm. Put a pile of cheese onto the masa and make sure to leave a little space around the edges. Close your hand to bring the edges of the disc closer and use your other hand to pinch the edges together to enclose the cheese in a rough ball. Use a little more masa to patch any holes. Pat out the pupusas on the prepared parchment paper to form a disc about 4 inches wide. Repeat with the remaining masa and cheese to form more pupusas.

Grease and heat a large nonstick sauté pan over medium heat. When the oil appears thin, lay the pupusas in the pan and cook until browned in spots, about 4 minutes. Flip the pupusas and cook until browned and cooked through. Serve immediately.

Comments: Like I said before: delicious and simple. What more could you want? Pupusas are traditionally served with curtido, which is like a red cabbage slaw that is aged over three days. Originally, I wasn’t planning on making it because I wasn’t convinced by the red cabbage but my boyfriend insisted that if I didn’t make curtido, I wasn’t making pupusas. At first, I ignored his comment but then I started rethinking it. I had decided to make curtido when I saw I had to let it ferment for three days and I did not have that much time; I had my dad make some grilled veggies instead. I am making a mental note, however, to plan ahead and make it for next time and I will leave some additional comments when I do. I found 12 ounces of cheese to be too much, I think I may have used about half, but it’s better to have extra and than to be short on cheese. When rolling out the balls of dough, you can wet your hands if the dough is sticky. When adding the cheese, it might help to cup your hand slightly. Also, don’t worry about patching up the holes perfectly because any cheese that runs out in the pan will brown and get crispy (delicious!). When cooking the pupusas you can fit more than 1 on the pan at a time; I even used multiple pans to speed up the process so that the pupusas wouldn’t get cold.

By now, you should all be very familiar with my mushroom obsession. I hadn’t eaten stuffed portobellos in a while when I returned to Houston for the summer and I was craving them! My mom was going away to Argentina so I started planning the weekly menu to feed my dad. I receive the weekly newsletter of Recetas La Nación (Argentine newspaper) but I hadn’t made one of their recipes in a while so I started looking through. I came across this recipe (Champignones rellenos con jamón, ricota y parmesano) and knew it was my priority especially since my mom had left an unfinished tub of ricotta that needed to be used. The outcome was delicious and the combination of ricotta and Parmesan had just the right punch of flavour.

Yields 3-4 servings

Ingredients:

4 portobello mushrooms

1 cup ricotta

1 cup Parmesan

Salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste

2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped

2-4 tablespoons breadcrumbs

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 190ºC (370ºF) and grease a 13×9-inch baking dish.

Clean each mushroom with a paper towel and remove the stalks. Finely chop the stalks. Use a spoon to remove the gills and put them into a mixing bowl and combine with the chopped stalks.

Add the Parmesan, ricotta and parsley to the gill and stalk mixture.

Fill each portobello with the mixture and sprinkle each one with breadcrumbs. Bake into the preheated oven for around 10 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.

Comments: As I said before, this was a delicious concoction while also being super simple and very quick to make; I had dinner ready in about 20 minutes. The original recipe actually used smaller mushrooms and they served the mushrooms as an appetizer, which could also be a great option for a dinner party. I served them hot out of the oven but they recommended serving them warm or cold, which is a better option if you’re serving them as an appetizer (I had cold leftovers for lunch the following day and it was actually really good like that too!). The original recipe also included 200g of diced ham in the filling. I thought my dad would like the touch of meat but I am vegetarian, so I made 2 mushrooms without ham and 2 with ham (100g). I served them with some warm sandwich thins to eat as full sandwiches or open-faced sandwiches. Some brown rice could also go nicely with the bite of the cheese filling.

To start off, let me just say that you can eat really good food in my college town, Davis, CA. This goes for Café Bernardo as well. My parents and I were surprised when we arrived at this restaurant and found out it was actually part of the Best Western Palm Court Hotel. We were not at all disappointed, however, and we make a point of going there every time they come visit. That said, though many things on the menu sound amazing, I always order the Grilled Polenta that comes with tomato sauce, spinach, portobello and cheese. I was then inspired to make something similar. I found two recipes, which I combined. A very satisfying meal!

Yields 4-6 servings

Ingredients:

1 cup instant polenta

3 cups water

1 tablespoon butter

½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 tablespoon olive oil

12 ounces portobello and shiitake mushrooms, sliced

¼ cup fresh rosemary, chopped

8 ounces frozen chopped spinach

1 cup tomato purée or marinara sauce

Directions:

1.Grease an 8-inch square baking dish and set aside.

2.Bring the water to a boil in a large saucepan. When the water boils, add the polenta in a steady stream while stirring. Keep stirring until it reaches a soft, creamy consistency and turn off heat. Beat in the butter. Season with salt, cayenne pepper and black pepper to taste.

3.Pour the polenta into the prepared baking dish and set in the fridge for about an hour or until firm.

4.Preheat the oven to 180C (350F).

5.Remove the polenta from the fridge and top it with the Parmesan.

6.Place the polenta in the preheated oven for 20 minutes or until the cheese has melted.

7.When the polenta has warmed through, remove it from the oven and cut into squares.

8.While the polenta is cooking, heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium high heat. Add the mushrooms and cook for about 3 to 5 minutes or until the mushrooms are soft and a nice brown color. After 2 minutes, toss in the chopped rosemary and season with salt and pepper to taste.

9.Remove the mushrooms from the skillet, leaving any liquids behind in the pan and add the frozen spinach. Sauté the spinach until heated through and season with salt and pepper to taste.

10. To serve, arrange a couple of baked polenta squares on each plate and top with about ¼ of the tomato purée or marinara. Then add a layer of spinach and finally a layer of the rosemary infused mushrooms. Decorate with sprigs of fresh rosemary if desired. Serve warm.

Comments: This recipe is not at all difficult. After the polenta has been left in the fridge, it is also quite quick to make. By combining two recipes, I tried to pull in my favorite aspects of each recipe to make one great dish. I loved the idea of the rosemary infused mushrooms from the Meat Free Mondays recipe but I wanted the spinach and tomato purée/sauce as well. Instead of just using portobello mushrooms, I also added some shiitake mushrooms. Hope you like it!

And so my lasagne obsession continues! This is another great one with a beautiful blend of a strong wild mushroom taste with ricotta, marinara and Parmesan. The recipe itself is not too complex. You can prepare it up to a day ahead and refrigerate or freeze it. You can even bake it several hours ahead and reheat it in a medium oven.

P.S. I greatly apologize for my inconsistency. I had a few rough and busy months but now I am less stressed and hope to start blogging again regularly. Thank you for your patience!

Yields 6 servings

Wild Mushroom Lasagne

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil

½ pound wild mushrooms, torn or cut into smaller slices if large (I used oyster and shiitake mushrooms)

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add the mushrooms. Let sear without moving for about 30 seconds, then toss and stir in the pan until they begin to sweat, about 2 to 3 minutes. Turn heat to medium and add the thyme. Season with salt and pepper and continue to cook over medium heat until the mushrooms are soft. Remove from heat.

Preheat the oven to 350F (177C). Lightly grease a 13×9 baking dish and set aside.

Blend the ricotta with the egg, water, nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste.

Spread a small spoonful of marinara in a thin layer over the bottom of the baking dish. Top with a layer of lasagne noodles. Top the noodles with a thin layer of the ricotta mixture. Spoon on a few dollops then spread it wan a rubber spatula. Top the ricotta with half the mushrooms. Top with a layer of marinara sauce and a layer of Parmesan. Repeat the layers. End with a finally layer of lasagne noodles topped with marinara and Parmesan.

Cover the baking dish tightly with aluminium. Bake in the preheat oven for 40 minutes or until the noodles are tender and the mixture is bubbling. Remove from the oven and let sit for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

Simple Marinara Sauce

Ingredients:

1 (28-ounce) can San Marzano tomatoes, chopped, with juice

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/8 teaspoon sugar

Salt, to taste

Directions:

Pulse the chopped tomatoes in a food processor fitted with a steel blade.

Heat the oil over medium heat in a saucepan. Add the tomatoes and their juice, the sugar and salt. Stir and turn up the heat. When the tomatoes begin to bubble, lower the heat to medium and cook, stirring often, until thick and fragrant, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Comments: So, funny story: This is actually supposed to be “Lasagne with Spinach and Wild Mushrooms.” The first step was to cook 1 pound of spinach in a pot until wilted and then chop it. I cooked the spinach and then did the rest of the recipe. I finished assembling my beautiful lasagne, raised my eyes and saw the spinach to my left all nicely chopped up. I couldn’t disassemble the lasagne and went ahead and cooked it without the spinach. It turned out to be a huge success. I served the spinach on the side, but the lasagne really did not need it. If you wish to add the spinach, stir it into the ricotta-egg mixture right before assembling the lasagne. My little adventure aside, when choosing the mushrooms I decided for oyster and shiitake mushrooms. Some other examples of wild mushrooms are porcini, cremini, maitake and morels.

When I was little, my mom used to make cannelloni pretty often. She made spinach and meat ones; funnily enough, I believe I preferred the latter. As is typical in Argentina, she would make crêpes, or panqueques, for the dough instead of actual pasta, and she always made sure to make some extra for dessert (crêpes with dulce de leche are quite extraordinary!). It had been a while since we had eaten cannelloni, but I received my weekly menu from La Nación one Monday morning, which contained this recipe. I immediately set off to make it.

Yields 4-6 servings

Ingredients:

500 grams fresh spinach

150 grams mozzarella, diced

150 grams ricotta

12 crêpes

100 milliliters prepared béchamel sauce (see Comments)

50 grams grated Parmesan

Salt, to taste

Pepper, to taste

Nutmeg, to taste

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 177C (350F) and lightly grease a 13×9-inch baking dish.

In a large pot, cook the spinach over medium heat until wilted and the liquid has evaporated. Remove from heat, squeeze out the liquid and chop.

Mix the spinach with the ricotta and diced mozzarella. Season to taste.

Add the Parmesan to the prepared béchamel sauce and set aside.

Divide the filling evenly among the crêpes and roll them up. Place them in the prepared baking dish. Evenly spread the béchamel sauce over the cannelloni.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes or until the top is a golden brown.

Comments: This yet another quite simplistic recipe that doesn’t take up that much time. The blend of cheeses was quite excellent. You can, of course, make your own crêpes, but I had some stored in the freezer, which I used instead. I have instructions for making crêpes in the recipe for Mushroom & Spinach Crêpes. For the béchamel sauce, you can go all out and do the traditional one with a roux. The one I made was a very easy and quick one my mom has always made. For every 250 milliliters of milk (I used almond in this case), add 1 tablespoon of flour; simmer the mixture while stirring constantly until you get a creamy consistency. You can add more or less flour depending on whether you want a thicker or more liquid sauce. The original recipe also includes 100 grams of bacon, which you must dice and sauté to a golden color; as I am vegetarian and never liked bacon, I omitted it.

This frittata is really more like a soufflé than a frittata. As you probably already know, I love frittatas and always like to try different varieties. What really shocked me about this one was that it only has egg whites. Since you beat the egg whites, the consistency of the “frittata” is really more like a soufflé. It was a very light, fluffy meal with a nice blend of flavors.

Yields 4 servings

Ingredients:

1/8 teaspoon salt

8 large egg whites

½ teaspoon cream of tartar

Ground black pepper, to taste

1/3 cup chopped drained oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes

¼ cup chopped green onions

1 ½ teaspoons olive oil

4 ounces crumbled goat cheese

1 tablespoon sun-dried tomato oil

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400F (204C).

Place salt and egg whites in a large bowl. Beat with a mixer at high speed until foamy. Add the cream of tarter and pepper and beat until soft peaks form. Gently fold in the tomatoes and onions.

Heat the olive oil in a 10-inch ovenproof nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Spread the egg mixture evenly in the pan. Top with the crumbled goat cheese. Drizzle with the tomato oil.

Bake in the preheated oven for 16 minutes or until puffed and golden. Loosen with a spatula and slide onto a platter. Serve immediately.

Comments: This is really a beautiful, impressive meal. Fresh out of the oven, the frittata radiates beauty in its golden, puffed elegance. The original recipe actually uses ricotta salata cut into wedges; however, I was unable to find it. The magazine suggested using feta instead, but I went for the goat cheese. Goat cheese goes very well with sun-dried tomatoes and has a nice kick to it. A tip for storing oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes: once you are done using them, add more olive oil to the jar so that it covers the remaining tomatoes completely. The tomatoes should keep well. This frittata is great for a brunch or dinner and leftovers for tomorrow’s lunch (maybe with an English muffin?).

I’ve done vegetarian meatballs before with lentils and several vegetables. I’ve bought Trader Joe’s Meatless Meatballs. I wanted something different. While browsing through Vegetarian Times, I came across this recipe. Seitan meatballs. Of course. I’d thought about it before. It’s a great vegetarian substitute for ground meat. I also loved the addition of tomato sauce (how my mom makes regular meatballs) and goat cheese.

Yields 12 servings

Ingredients:

3 8-ounce packages plain seitan, rinsed and drained

1 8-ounce package ricotta

1 cup unseasoned breadcrumbs

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 large egg, lightly beaten

3 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons fresh dill, finely chopped

2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon allspice

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons olive oil

25 ounces tomato purée

1 cup crumbled goat cheese

Directions:

Pulse the seitan in the food processor until finely ground. Transfer to a bowl. Add all the remaining ingredients except the oil, tomato puré and feta. Mash the mixture with hands or a potato masher until the mixture comes together. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350F (177C). Coat the baking dish with oil. Scoop the seitan mixture into golf ball-sized meatballs. Place the meatballs in the prepared baking dish. Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven.

Pour the tomato purée over the meatballs and sprinkle with the goat cheese. Bake for 30 more minutes or until the sauce is bubbly.

Comments: I really loved the blend of flavors in this recipe. If you aren’t a huge fan of plain seitan, you should still try this recipe; you don’t really taste it. The addition of cheese also is the perfect finish. Since it was just me eating, I made a third of the recipe. Here, I wrote down the full one because it’s simpler. I didn’t like grinding the seitan in the food processor; if I had planned it beforehand, I would have bought the ground seitan instead. The recipe on the sight actually uses 1 25-ounce jar of tomato sauce; I like to use the purée instead, but you may do as you wish. The original recipe also uses feta cheese, not regular goat cheese, but I only had goat cheese. Feta would also do nicely; as always, make sure to buy actual goat’s milk feta, not cow’s milk feta. Though the baking time is pretty long, the actual hands-on time isn’t; you can also prepare the mixture ahead of time and chill it for more than the stated 30 minutes. These meatballs work nicely with some whole wheat couscous or in a hot dog bun as a sub.

Paul McCartney and his daughters started a movement in the UK (Meat Free Mondays) to encourage people to eat less meat. Many restaurants have integrated this campaign into their menus and it as spread across the world while helping convert many people (including myself) to vegetarianism. The Meat Free Mondays website has a collection of many great vegetarian and vegan recipes, including this one. This tart is incredibly easy and quick to make and uses everyday ingredients.

Ingredients:

½ cup all-purpose flour

½ cup whole wheat flour

5 tablespoons butter (or margarine for a vegan version)

3 tablespoons cold water

1 onion, chopped coarsely

1 red bell pepper, sliced thickly

1 zucchini, sliced into 1-centimeter rounds

2 tablespoons olive oil

salt, to taste

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon dried rosemary

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375F (190C). Grease a pie dish and set aside

Mix the flours in a large bowl.

Cut in the butter with a knife until the mix is like breadcrumbs.

Add the cold water (add more if necessary) until the mix forms a dough.

Wrap the dough in parchment paper and place in the fridge for a half-hour.

Place all the chopped vegetables and herbs in a baking tray and toss in the olive oil.

Bake the vegetables for about 25 minutes or until they are tender. Let cool.

Roll out the chilled dough to 5-millimeter thickness and place in the prepared pie dish. Cover the dough with a piece of parchment paper and place pie weights (or beans) on top, making sure that they line the edges. Blind bake in the oven for 15 minutes.

Add the vegetables to the tart and bake for another 30 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.

Comments: Like I said before, this is a very easy and quick recipe, perfect for a weeknight meal. Though delicious, it is quite light as it has no eggs or cheese like regular quiches. We had this tart with some spinach soup. This tart could also be good as an appetizer. The original recipe calls for vegan margarine but we don’t buy margarine so I used butter instead. When cutting in the butter with a knife, you can always “cheat” like I did and use your hands to mix better; it’s so much easier! When rolling out the dough, I placed another piece of parchment paper between the dough and the rolling pin to create a sort of “sandwich” with the two pieces of parchment paper; in doing so, I did not have to waste flour for rolling out the dough AND I didn’t have to clean the rolling pin. I later also used the parchment paper to place the dough in the pie dish. For a more detailed explanation for rolling out dough and blind baking, look at my instructions for quiche crust.

Though it sounds like a super dense meal, surprisingly it is not. May I add that it is another great autumn recipe. I’ve always had the traditional pesto so it was interesting to try out this new combination. I loved the combination of pumpkin (kabocha squash in my case) with the pasta and pesto. Though it takes about 45-60 minutes to make, it is not a difficult recipe. Don’t be intimidated!

Yields 4-6 servings

Ingredients:

¼ cup pumpkin seeds

¾ teaspoons maple syrup

Ground black pepper

3 cups spinach

¼ cup plus 2 teaspoons olive oil, divided

3 cups diced kabocha squash

Bunch of fresh sage

9 ounces (250 grams) whole wheat pasta

Directions:

To make the pesto, add the pumpkin seeds to a heavy pan and dry roast over medium-low heat until they begin to crackle and pop. Remove them from the heat and drizzle the maple syrup on top along with the pepper. The maple syrup should almost candy when it hits the hot seeds. All to cool.

Transfer the pumpkin seed mixture to a food processor. Add the spinach to the food processor. With the motor running, gradually add ¼ cup of olive oil until you have a loose pesto. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350F (177C).

Throw the diced kabocha into a baking tray and drizzle with the remaining 2 teaspoons of olive oil. Season with pepper. Toss well and place in the preheated oven for around 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to the instructions on the package.

When the kabocha pieces just begin to turn golden on the edges, add the sage leaves and return to the oven for another 5 minutes or until the squash is soft and golden and the sage leaves are crisp.

Add the cooked pasta to the same heavy pan you dry roasted the pumpkin seeds in and toss over medium heat with the prepared pesto until well coated. Add the roasted kabocha and sage leaves. Toss gently to combine.

Comments: Alternatively, you can use regular pasta instead of whole wheat or any other kind you wish (the original recipe calls for spelt pasta). Originally, as the name suggests, the recipe is made with pumpkin but I had a kabocha squash sitting in my kitchen, waiting to be roasted so I decided to use that instead. If you wish, you can double the amount of pumpkin seeds and maple syrup and use half for the pesto and toss the rest in the final step with the pasta and pesto. I did not try it but this pasta would also probably be delicious sprinkled with some feta or goat cheese.

Another Christmas, full of love, laughter and fun, has come and gone but not without my making a delicious dessert for our Christmas Eve dinner. This year choosing a dessert proved quite difficult. I had several suggestions but no one agreed on any single dessert. Though simple, I had thought of making a red velvet cake because it seemed like a Christmas-y dessert. However some thought that wasn’t very dessert-y, that it was more appropriate for an afternoon tea. I went with my mother and sister-in-law to the supermarket and the former offered if I wanted to get a Southern Living magazine. I accepted and started looking through the marvelous cakes once I got home. The decision was pretty unanimous in the end.

Cheesecake Layers

Ingredients:

4½ 8-ounce packages of cream cheese, softened

2¼ cups sugar

6 large eggs, lightly beaten

1½ cups sour cream

¾ cup buttermilk

4½ tablespoons unsweetened cocoa

2 1-ounce bottles liquid red food coloring

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1½ teaspoons distilled white vinegar

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325F (162.8C) . Line the bottom and sides of two 9-inch round pans with aluminum foil and allow 2 to 3 inches to extend over the sides. Lightly grease the foil.

Beat the cream cheese and sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until completely combined, about one minute.

Pour the batter into prepared pans and bake in the preheated oven at 325F for ten minutes. Reduce the heat to 300F (148.9C) and continue baking until center is slightly jiggly, about 1 hour and 5 minutes. Turn the oven off and let the cheesecake layers stand in the oven for 30 minutes.

Remove the cheesecake layers from the oven and cool in the pans for 1 hour. Cover and chill for 8 hours or overnight.

Vanilla Cake Layer

Ingredients:

½ cup (4 ounces, 113 grams)

1 cup sugar

1½ cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

2/3 cup milk

1½ teaspoons vanilla extract

3 large egg whites

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325F (162.8C). Grease one 9-inch round cake pan and set aside.

Beat the butter with a stand mixer on medium speed until creamy. Gradually add the sugar, beating until light and fluffy, about five minutes.

Stir together the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Beat on low speed just until blended after each addition. Stir in the vanilla.

Beat the egg whites in a bowl with an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment on high speed until stiff peaks form. Fold about one-third of the egg whites into the batter. Gradually fold in remaining egg whites.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake in the preheated oven for about 33 to 36 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove the cake from the pan and cool completely.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

2 8-ounce packages of cream cheese, softened

½ cup butter, softened

1 32-ounce package of powdered sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

Beat the cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer on medium speed until creamy, about five minutes.

Gradually add the powdered sugar, beating on low speed until blended after each addition. Stir in the vanilla.

Increase speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy.

Assembling the Cake

Ingredients:

2 red velvet cheesecake layers (recipe above)

1 vanilla cake layer (recipe above)

Cream cheese frosting (recipe above)

Directions:

Lift the cheesecake layers from their pans, using the foil sides as handles.

Place 1 cheesecake layer, bottom side up, on a cake plate. Place the vanilla cake layer on top of the cheesecake layer. Top the vanilla cake layer with the remaining cheesecake layer, bottom side up.

Spread a thin layer of cream cheese frosting over the top and sides of the cake to seal in crumbs and chill the cake for 20 minutes.

Spread the remaining frosting over the top and sides of the cake.

Comments: This cake was a big success. The combination of red velvet cocoa, light vanilla cake and sweet cream cheese frosting was just right. I also garnished the cake with white chocolate curls. What I did was soften a white chocolate baking bar by heating it in the microwave at 50% power for 10-15 seconds. I then used a vegetable peeler to shave the chocolate and make the curls. I also sprinkled some gold sugar to give the cake a touch of color. Like all cake recipes, you get a lot of frosting when following the instructions but having more is better than having less and some people may prefer more frosting than others. Here are some general baking tips that may prove useful to you. While I was making the cheesecake layers, I ran out of sour cream. When I had looked at the package to see how much it had, I converted tablespoons to cups incorrectly and ended up buying less sour cream than I needed. However, I did have plain Greek yogurt in my fridge; plain yogurt is a good substitute for sour cream. I also did not buy buttermilk to make this cake; instead I measured 1 tablespoon of white vinegar and then added milk to it to create the ¾ cups I needed.